1972: Surviving BICKERSHAW POP FESTIVAL | Bickershaw | Classic BBC Music | BBC Archive
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Published 2024-02-26
Austin Mitchell visits, as all manner of hippies, dropouts and assorted music fanatics convene on the normally sedate Lancashire mining village for a pop music extravaganza. Acts booked to play at the Bickershaw Festival include a variety of major US and British acts like Grateful Dead, The Kinks, Captain Beefheart, Hawkwind, Wishbone Ash, and Donovan.
As the festival begins at Naylor’s Farm, Mitchell talks to some of Bickershaw's residents and business owners about what they make of this sudden influx of young revellers, and how they plan to cope with the numbers. He interviews Harry "The Count" Bilkus - one of the brains behind the festival - and beleaguered festival organiser, Jeremy Beadle, whose workload has risen exponentially following the arrest of a fellow organiser just three weeks before the event.
Over the course of the weekend, Mitchell documents the impact this pop behemoth has on the local community, the fans, and the event organisers.
Clip taken from Bickershaw, originally broadcast on BBC One, 15 July, 1972.
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All Comments (21)
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Jeremy had a colourful and varied career and raised over £100m for charities before his sad death aged only 59. He died of chronic lymphoma Leukemia. RIP Jezza
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I grew up in the 70s and old men who were dressed like that were ten a penny. I really miss that. You would have conversations with them that were pure gold.
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Loved the shopkeeper who stated that he "wouldn't give yoghurt two glances". 😆
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Harold the Count obviously misheard the locals when they told him what they nicknamed him.
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I was there! Just turned 17 and took my first tab of black dot acid. Mud and madness. I haven't been the same ever since.....thank goodness. Deeply grateful, thank you Bickershaw
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Sod the festival 😂 Fascinating to see & hear the old chaps gathered at the front gate giving their opinion!
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I was there as a youngster 13 yrs old. Obviously I thought it was bloody amazing. To have a festival so near to our home town (Leyland) was something all music fans didn't want to miss. Me and a buddy still wear our Bickershaw T shirts at events, to generate chat from others that were there.
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Love the idea of those long haired hippy festival goers wanting yoghurt which the shopkeeper had heard of but never sold. A complete culture shock for the older locals (one of whom I'm sure was Thora Hird.)
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I like how the count keep a looking at the camera during the interview, like David Brent.
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Gosh - didn't realise it was Jeremy beadle till i read the comments - i only knew him from when i was a kid in the 80s - thought he was all cheese then , but this shows what a groovy cat he was back in the day
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Bickershaw/Jeremy Beadle/Grateful Dead....parallel universe right there.
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The startling moment when the pop-crazed youngster realizes they are witnessing a groovy young Jeremy Beadle. I'm off to enjoy a lovely yoghurt.
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One can only imagine what the Grateful Dead made of Bickershaw - they must have thought their last trip had marooned them in the 19th century
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WONDERFUL time capsule!
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3:47 "I've heard of yoghurt ... but there's no demand for it" The north never changes
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i like that the older folks were cool about it all.
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Friday night rainstorm saw Wishbone Ash, Hawkwind, Jonathan Kelly & a stellar performance from Dr John & the Night Tripper aptly named as we had no tent & spent the night tripping & sheltering under plastic underneath the lighting tower. Contrary to many accounts of Bickershaw, the Saturday was blessed with brilliant sunshine & I can remember the ice cream melting before it could be carried a hundred yards back to the tent which we had strategically erected that morning with the opening facing the stage.
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I was there, I was 17 and it was my first festival, had a great time despite the rain, the mud and those dreaded toilets, held back from using them until Sunday morning then I had to go, called to my mate to find me some arse wipe material, which didn't turn out too well when he passed me a wet Embassy box and an empty crisp packet. We loved it though, saw some great bands and met a lot of colourful characters, and just being there was an experience in itself and one that I'll never forget.
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Jeremy Beadle, I recognised him straight away. He looks a bit different there to the sharp suited, flashy gent he became in his later career. What a clash of cultures. Bless the older generation whatever side they were on. RIP all of them.
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Pure gold. Born in 1966 in North Yorkshire. Be good if we could get back to these people and this time before it all started falling apart
